Saturday, December 8, 2012

DAP to PAS: Act fast on Kelantan enforcers who nabbed non-Muslims for ‘khalwat’

DAP to PAS: Act fast on Kelantan enforcers who nabbed non-Muslims for ‘khalwat’

By Ida Lim

December 08, 2012

Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 — The DAP wants its Islamist Pakatan Rakyat
(PR) partner to act fast on complaints that errant enforcement officers
in the PAS-led Kelantan government had demanded bribes from non-Muslims
caught for indecent behaviour to avoid jeopardising the pact ahead of
national polls due soon.
Four non-Muslims — two men on a plane-spotting outing and a non-Muslim couple in a Kota Baru park — who were nabbed for “khalwat”
(close proximity), a crime under syariah law, had complained the
enforcement officers had demanded RM500 “to settle the matter”,
English-language daily The Star reported earlier today.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng (picture) accused the mainstream media of misreporting the incident, saying the non-Muslims were fined not for khalwat but
for indecent behaviour, but still urged PAS to resolve the issue
quickly to show neither the party nor the Kelantan
government is
corrupt.

“If the Kelantan PAS government fails to act against errant municipal
council saboteurs who issue summonses against non-Muslim couples for
indecent behaviour, this will adversely undermine PR’s message of
respect for freedom of religion and damage existing co-operation within
PR,” he said in a statement today.

“Clearly the municipal officers were abusing their powers and urgent
action is required to clear the good name of the Kelantan state
government of being clean and free from corruption as well as allay
concerns that non-Muslim rights are not respected by forcible imposition
of Islamic laws,” he added.

The Penang chief minister urged for action by the Kelantan PAS
government to prevent the jeopardising of the “mutual trust and strong
ties” within PR, saying that he has spoken to PAS secretary-general
Datuk Mustafa Ali about the matter.

Lim also said that his DAP colleague, Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin
Tong, would speak with PAS leaders to get an “immediate resolution” on
issues related to allegations that non-Muslims were being subjected to
Islamic laws.

Recently, non-Muslim hairdressers in Kelantan were reported to have
also been slapped with fines for having customers of the opposite
gender, breaching a local council by-law that bars women hairstylists
from working on men and vice versa — sparking a storm over the position
of Islamic laws.

Malaysia practises a dual-track court system but syariah laws can only be enforced on Muslims; non-Muslims are exempt.

As the 13th general election draws near, the ruling Barisan Nasional
(BN) coalition has increasingly tried to scare non-Muslim voters from
voting for PR by saying that PAS would implement the Islamic penal code,
hudud, and create an Islamic state.